Few Canadians have touched as many lives as Jim Gray.

On this day, the gentlemanly chairman of Canadian Hunter Exploration is gushing over his monthly breakfast meeting with a youthful geologist.

The 67-year-old officer of the Order of Canada starts every day with a mile swim at the Eau Claire YMCA and then spends the rest of the day inspiring folks around him to go the extra mile.

While continuing to work for the company he founded 28 years ago and helped nurture into an oilpatch giant, Gray tirelessly volunteers with numerous community organizations.

Chris Wood, Business Edge
Jim Gray is a firm believer in the power of teamwork, and balancing your family, community and job.

Ask him about teamwork and he reaches into his shirt pocket and hands a visitor copies of his two axioms — one on commitment and the other on attitude. They’ve been in his shirt pocket for three decades.

Ask him about his simulated west-to-east cross-country swim and he dashes to his office where he has marked every mile on a Canadian map. He has already swam from the west coast to Ignace, Ont.

Twinkling eyes rivet on the Atlantic Ocean. Some would say that Jim Gray’s eyes have always been cast on the finish line.

1. Where did you get your entrepreneurial spirit?

“My father (Ken Gray) was a mining engineer and ran a mine in my home town of Kirkland Lake, Ont., but I think more than anything it’s this city. I think this city brings out entrepreneurial flair. There is such a chemistry and excitement to this city. Most of us in Calgary also come from somewhere else so we all start on a level playing field.”

2. Take us back to a boyhood in northern Ontario?

“We had a great youth and we made friendships that sustained us to this day. We had cold, harsh winters, but we were still out playing hockey in 40° below zero. I also have a vivid memory of a mining strike where we had to be ferried to school in police cars.”

3. Did you have an idol?

“The sports figures were idols, guys like (former National Hockey Leaguers) Ted Lindsay and Gus Mortsen and Bill Barilko. And my father was an idol. He was heavily involved in the community and the children’s aid society. My dad fought at Vimy Ridge (First World War) as an 18-year-old. But he was very quiet and never talked about it. My mother (Anne) was the stability in the family. The atmosphere I grew up in was one of resilience and independence. You didn’t depend on anyone else.”

4. Who was your mentor in the oilpatch?

“Bob Erickson (then VP of Great Plains Development) taught us young geologists the discipline, excitement and fun of finding oil and gas.”

5. What business philosophy has worked for you?

“The philosophy of inclusion and teamwork. I’m not the smartest guy around, so I really believe in teams and sharing. You’re like a hockey coach. You’ve got to have every member of the team at the top of their game and recognize that most of them are a lot of smarter than you. Here at Canadian Hunter, what’s important is people.”

6. What kind of rapport do you strive for with staff at Canadian Hunter?

“There are three elements in our lives that have to be in balance — our family, our community and our job. We’ve always thought of Canadian Hunter as a family. If we have somebody that’s hurting, who has drilled a dry hole or has health problems, it’s our problem. We try to treat people as you’d want to be treated.”

7. Best advice you can offer a budding entrepreneur?

(He springs from his chair to open a door to a meeting room where a sign answers the question:) “Just ask for a little advice. People love to be asked for advice because you’re paying them a compliment. My advice is to aim high, never quit and to ask for advice. And to not be discouraged. The marketplace can be pretty heartless, but if there’s something that is worthwhile doing, the only person that stands between you and doing it is you.”

8. Did the word quit ever cross your mind when you and partner John Masters were turned away by 17 companies for financing to start Canadian Hunter in 1973?

“Not quit. We felt we had to change our pitch as we moved on. The turning point was when Noranda invested in us to start the company. My dad worked for Noranda and that helped get us through the door.”

9. Did you ever anticipate natural-gas prices escalating as they have?

“Three, four, five years ago I never thought we’d see nine-dollar gas (mcf/per thousand cubic feet). We’re sailing on uncharted waters.”

10. Do you still get a kick out of drilling a well?

“The excitement is in the prospect and watching the drilling of the well to see if it comes in as a discovery, gas well, oil well or a dry hole. And then building from that and doing it again and again.”

11. What do your monthly meetings with young geologists do for you?

“It keeps me young. I get much, much more out of it than they do. They pass things on to me. They’re living in the dot-com world and I’m a slipstick guy. They don’t even know what a slide-rule is.”

12. Your thoughts about the dot-com world?

“It’s too fast and it’s mysterious to me. I believe in creating value and value to me is tangible assets. I believe in oil and gas or minerals — hard, tangible things — so I can exist without a full appreciation of the dot-com world.”

13. Are business people too reliant on the Internet and e-mails?

“There aren’t as many personal relationships with e-mail and video-conferencing. Back in our day, it was a much slower tempo. You shook hands and you had a deal. Now, it’s much more complicated. I use e-mail a little, but I prefer to communicate by letters, phones, breakfasts and lunches.”

14. You once had a debate with Pierre Trudeau when he was prime minister over the national energy policies, including the National Energy Program that devastated the oilpatch. Who won?

“The curious thing about this debate was that I didn’t win. I remember he had 10,000 subjects and I thought surely I knew more about natural gas than this guy and he can beat me on the other 9,999. But he was an incredible debater. He kept shifting the subject. I don’t know whether it was his Jesuit discipline and training or what, but he was brilliant. So it was entertaining. But he didn’t win either.”

15. How much of your time now is spent directly with this business?

“I’m as busy as ever, but I spend about 15 per cent of my time with Canadian Hunter business. The new generation is running the company and our new team, under (CEO) Steve Savidant’s direction, is doing an absolutely outstanding job.”

16. Is retirement in your dictionary?

“Retirement damned near killed my father. I believe we should go through transitions. I’m starting to think of what I will do in the future. I think I’d like to work with smaller companies when I’m between 75 and 80. I’m very, very emphatic that those people who work on Thursday, retire on Friday and they go golfing or follow their wife around in Safeway, that can kill ’em. There’s lots to do in small business, in mentoring and opportunities in the not-for-profit sector.”

17. What does your work in the community do for your life’s perspective?

“It energizes me. Community work teaches you to lead without power. Our business lives are far, far less complicated than people like Jane Wood at Wood’s Homes. These people are dealing with crises every day.”

18. How does money stack up on your scale of priorities?

“I’m not filthy rich. But money should be of secondary importance to your family, your health, your community and your associates. Anyone who simply measures their success by some form of economic balance sheet is making a huge mistake. They’ll end up very lonely in the end. The trip is not about money or the car you drive or the house you live in. The trip is people.”

19. God taps you on the shoulder and says you can change one thing?

“I’d like to be 20 years younger, but I can’t make that happen.”

20. If you could snap your fingers and do one thing to improve the quality of life in Calgary, what would that be?

“It would be where we would all be more respectful, tolerant and appreciative of other people, a little less greedy, a little less impatient, a little bit more understanding and a little more appreciative of what we’ve got. We’ve got an incredible city . . . but just take it easy a little. I mean, my God, it won’t matter that much if you’re a little late and miss a deal. Stop and smell the roses.”

IN PROFILE: Jim Gray

* Born/raised/age: Kirkland Lake, Ont., 67.

* Title: chairman/co-founder, Canadian Hunter Exploration.

* Education: University of British Columbia (geology, 1957).

* Family: Wife Josie, son Ken, twin daughters Janice and Christine.

* Resume: Gray has spent 45 years in the oilpatch, the past 28 with Canadian Hunter. He was also a geologist with Great Plains Development Company and Kerr McGee. He was chairman of World Petroleum Congress 2000 in Calgary, is chairman of the Canada West Foundation, honourary chairman of Science Alberta Foundation, honourary life director of Calgary YMCA and a director of Calgary Inc., Canadian National Railways, Brascan, Emera, Hudson's Bay Company, Malibu Engineering & Software and Twin Mining.

* Awards: Order of Canada (1995), Honourary Doctor of Laws degree, U of C (1991), Government of Canada Citation of Citizenship (1992), Energy Person of the Year (2001).

* Passions: Mentoring, swimming, cycling.

THE COMPANY: Canadian Hunter Exploration

* Brass: Steve Savidant, president/CEO; Mike Downey, chief operating officer; Steve Soules, chief financial officer; Jim Gray, chairman.

* Profile: Oil and gas properties are in Western Canada with some activity in Argentina; primary focus is on natural gas production.

* Recent stock price (HTR-TSE): $45.70, market cap $2.655 billion (year range, $27-$45.75).

* Web site: www.canadianhunter.com

* Phone/Fax: 260-1000, 260-1156.

* Address: 2800-605 5th Ave. S.W., Calgary, T2P 3H5.